Regression asymptotics using martingale convergence methods

Weak convergence of partial sums and multilinear forms in independent random variables and linear processes and their nonlinear analogues to stochastic integrals now plays a major role in nonstationary time series and has been central to the development of unit root econometrics. The present paper develops a new and conceptually simple method for obtaining such forms of convergence. The method relies on the fact that the econometric quantities of interest involve discrete time martingales or semimartingales and shows how in the limit these quantities become continuous martingales and semimartingales. The limit theory itself uses very general convergence results for semimartingales that were obtained in the work of Jacod and Shiryaev (2003, Limit Theorems for Stochastic Processes). The theory that is developed here is applicable in a wide range of econometric models, and many examples are given. %One notable outcome of the new approach is that it provides a unified treatment of the asymptotics for stationary, explosive, unit root, and local to unity autoregression, and also some general nonlinear time series regressions. All of these cases are subsumed within the martingale convergence approach, and different rates of convergence are accommodated in a natural way. Moreover, the results on multivariate extensions developed in the paper deliver a unification of the asymptotics for, among many others, models with cointegration and also for regressions with regressors that are nonlinear transforms of integrated time series driven by shocks correlated with the equation errors. Because this is the first time the methods have been used in econometrics, the exposition is presented in some detail with illustrations of new derivations of some well-known existing results, in addition to the provision of new results and the unification of the limit theory for autoregression.